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All the Best

To continue upon the tradition of song reviews with the Italian Stallion, Matalian Marrone, we have decided to look at the rest of the songs on 'Collapse Into Now' that have not been covered as of yet. As most of you should know by now, the album is streaming right now on that liberal website NPR.

I figured the best way to attack these songs would be to go in sequential order, thus the second song on CIN is 'All the Best'.

Dear Matthew,

‘Let’s show the kids how to do it fine . . fine .. fine’

This would be a great addition to Guitar Hero if only it was still being made. Fact is, this sounds like a B-Side from New Adventures in Hi-Fi which is not necessarily a bad thing. I look at one of these songs actually in positive light as that “Dumb Rock Song” ala “Star 69” that allows for a quick dose of adrenaline. However, a song like ‘Star 69’ is not the feature track on Monster. The problem of course is that in the context of the entire album I do not like it when the dumb rock songs become the strong suits of the entire album. It’s also possible my appreciation for the ‘Dumb Rock Song’ genre is pretty low.

Yes, you might sit there at your wits end to stop comparing it to previous R.E.M. tracks but even the albums that I would give half a glance to typically do not feature songs of this sort.

A song, I think, needs something to hold onto. There is no mystery, and it is the second song in a row where it feels fairly emotionless. My only solace in this song was that the band is in some sorta midlife crisis and I do hope that they exit that soon.

I do not know if this song is R.E.M. by numbers but rather just American Idol by numbers. All that is missing is regular airplay on that “Alternative” Station that plays all those crappy songs by Green Day and Foo Fighters.

Can I see myself listening to this song on repeat? No. There is no secret combination, there is no mystery. The lyrics are pedestrian and would have done better if Stipe just stole the lyrics right from a teenager’s journal.